Apparatus for delimbing and loading full-length trees

ABSTRACT

A debrancher and forwarder is described wherein a sliding boom debranching apparatus with clamping devices at the end of the boom are provided at the end of a loading crane. A vehicle can also be provided with a buncer in which a sling is subtended between picoting closing arms and the sling passes over an expanding and retracting piston and cylinder arrangement for tightening or slackening the sling.

United States Patent [191 Vit [451 May 29, 1973 [5 APPARATUS FORDELIMBING AND 3,461,928 8/1969 Siiro ..144/3 D LOADING FULL-LENGTH TREES3,643,711 2/1972 Puna ..144/3 D [76] Inventor: Rudy Vit, 108 LeacockRoad, Primary Examiner Gerald Dost Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada AtmmeyAlan Swabey [22] Filed: June 15, 1971 57 ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.:153,389 1 A debrancher and forwarder is described wherein a 1 slidingboom debranching apparatus with clamping [52] U. S. Cl. ..144/2 Z,144/309 AC devices at the end f the boom are provided at the end [gilg].:rnti 2311/11): f a loading arm ie 0 a 4 2 l 1 g e rc 144/309 AC Avehicle can also be provided with a buncer m which a sling is subtendedbetween picoting closing arms and the slin passes over an expanding andretracting [56] References Cited g t piston and cylinder arrangement fortightening or UNITEDSTATES PATENTS slackening the sling- 5/l969Jorgensen ..144 2 2 7 Claims, 18 Drawing Figures PAH-INTEL m 2 9 I975SHEET 1 OF 7 INVENTOR Rudy VIT A TTORNEY PATENTEmYzs I975 SHEET 3 0r 7INVENTUR Rudy VIT ATTORIIVEY f PATENIE m 2 91975 SHEET 0F 7 INVENTORRudy VIT A TTURNE Y j PATENTEU HAYZS I975 sum 5 BF 7 NWH INVENTOR RudyVIT 3 nm Q Q O o m wt 3 um J vs 3 mm A TTORNEY PATENIE m2 9197s SHEET 6or 7 INVENTOR ATTORNEY f PAIEmm-m W 3. 735.786

SHEET 7 OF 7 INVENTOR Rudy VIT.

. A TTURNEY APPARATUS FOR DELIMBING AND LOADING FULL-LENGTH TREESBACKGROUND OF INVENTION central loading area. It has also been known todelirnb the trees mechanically, such as is described in Canadian Pat.No. 779,081, Jorgensen, 1968.

However, all of the mechanical delirnbers which have been developed todate are characterized by their cumbersomeness and lack of mobility inthe sense that in order to delirnb or otherwise process the trees, thetrees must be brought into alignment with a predetermined processingpath on the vehicle, or, in the case of the above-mentioned CanadianPat. No. 779,081, the machine itself must be brought into alignment withthe trunks of the trees. This, of course, greatly reduces themaneuverability of such mechanical delirnbers; since, when dealing withtree lengths of 40 feet and over, it is often difficult and timeconsuming to align either the delimber or the trees so that they can bepassed through a proper processing path.

All of these mechanical delimbers must operate very close to thewood-cutting fronts where freshly-cut trees are often strewn about andthere are usually piles of branches and many up-standing stumpscontributing to reduce the accessibility of the 'area. Thus, themaneuverability of the machines described in the above patents isgreatly reduced by terrain on which is must operate.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an aim of the present invention to provide anovel delimbing apparatus which has improved maneuverability, ascompared to the prior art mechanical methods, in that it is notnecessary to align either the mobile vehicle carrying the delimbingapparatus, nor the tree in order to delirnb the tree.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide an apparatus andmethod of delimbing trees whereby the tree is simultaneously loaded ontoa forwarding vehicle while it is being delimbed.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide an apparatus andmethod forcombining the operations of delimbing and forwarding into asingle operation.

A construction in accordance with the present invention comprises amobile vehicle, a crane mounted on the vehicle, means at the free end ofthe crane for gripping a felled tree, said means including a carriage, aboom slidably mounted or movable in the carriage parallel to a tree sogripped, delimbing means mounted to the boom adapted to engage said treewhile it is engaged by said tree-gripping means, means for slidablymoving said boom and delimbing means longitudinally of said tree.

In a more specific embodiment of the present invention, the means at thefree end of the crane for gripping the felled tree, including thecarriage, is movable in at least two planes relative to the end of thecrane. A further feature would be to provide cutting means at one end ofthe boom for topping the non-commercial end of the tree, when the treeis being delimbed.

A further feature of a more specific embodiment of the present inventionis in mounting the crane and delimbing means onto a forwarding vehicleor a skidder, whereby as the tree length is being delimbed, it may alsobe loaded simultaneously on the forwarder.

In a further embodiment, the above feature includes a pair of pivotingarms mounted on the rear of the forwarder with a flexible cabletightening loops subtended between the pivoting arms on the vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Having thus generally described thenature of the invention, particular reference will be made to theaccompanying drawings, showing by way of illustration, a preferredembodiment thereof, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a mobile vehicle on which the delimbercrane is mounted, and onto which the pivoting arms of the buncherapparatus are also mounted;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the delimber apparatus in detail;

FIG. 2a is a schematic view of the delimbing apparatus showing thesystem of cables for operating the movement of the boom;

FIG. 2b is a schematic view of the delimbing apparatus showing thesystem of cables for operating the clamping and delimbing devices;

FIG. 2c is a schematic view of the apparatus for delimbing showing inparticular a system of cables for operating the tree-topping apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross section taken along lines 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross section taken-through the delimbingapparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross section taken along lines 6-6 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross section taken along lines 7-7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross section taken along lines 8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a horizontal cross section taken along lines 9-9 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross section taken along lines 10-10 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 11-11 of FIG. 4 of adetail therein;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the delimbing apparatus;

FIG. 13 is an elevational view of the buncher shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is a side elevation of the buncher apparatus shown in FIG. 13;and

FIG. 15 is a top plan view thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly to FIG. 1, the delimbingcarriage 16, having a sliding boom 18, is shown mounted on a vehicle 20.The vehicle 20 mounts a cab 22, with a crane 26 mounted to a turntable24 on the vehicle. A trailer 28 is also provided in the presentembodiment on which is mounted a pair of pivoting arms 30 and 32 forminga buncher device.

The crane 26 on the vehicle 20 is made up, in this particularembodiment, of two sections 34 and 36 which are hydraulically operable.At the free end of the crane section 36 is the carriage 16.

The carriage 16 includes a turntable support 38 having brackets 40 forconnection with the crane section 36.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and through 10, the turntable support 38 is shownas having a central opening and a peripheral crown gear 44 attached toturntable support plate 38 by means of bolts 42. This turntable supportalso includes bearing 46 engaging a sleeve 48 which is journalled in thecentral opening.

The turntable 50 is attached to the sleeve 48 and a pair of parallelplates 56 and 58 extend normal to the turntable 50. The turntable 50also mounts a motor 52 carrying a gear 54 which is adapted to mesh withthe crown gear 44 to cause the turntable 50 to rotate relative to theturntablesupport 38. The plates 56 and 58 subtend a pivot shaft 60therebetween. The boom carriage 62 is pivotally mounted to the pivotshaft 60 for pivoting movement about the axis of the shaft 60.

The carriage 62 defines an opening therethrough of generally squarecross section through which the boom 18 is adapted to pass. A fixedgrapple jaw 64 is welded to the carriage 62 and a pivoting jaw 66 isconnected to the carriage 62 by means of a shaft 67. A lever 104 isrigid with the pivoting jaw 66 while an arm 106 is fixed to the carriage62. Piston and cylinder arrangements 68 and 70 extend between the lever104 and arm 106 to effect a movement of the pivoting jaw relative to thecarriage 62. The shaft 60 also mounts a pair of pulleys 72 and 74. Guidepulleys 76 and 78 are mounted in the same plane as pulleys 72 and 74,but spaced higher up between the plates 56 and 58.

A pair of piston and cylinder arrangements 80 and 82 extend in avertical plane from the turntable 50, between the plates 56 and 58. Bothpiston and cylinder arrangements 80 and 82 mount freely-rotating pulleys81 and 82, respectively.

Finally, there are provided, in the carriage 62 in the same plane as thepulleys 81 and 82, opposed pairs of pulleys 86, 88, 90 and 92, as shownin FIG. 9.

The boom 18 is made of extruded tubing which has been formed into arelatively square configuration. The boom 18 passes through the openingin the carriage 62 and is guided therein by means of rollers 94 as shownin FIG. 10. Each roller 94 is journalled on a shaft 98 having squareends which fit between a bracket and bracket cap 96. The square endshafts can be shimmed at the openings formed by the square cap so as topress the rollers 94 closer to the boom 18 as the roller material isworrn out. The rollers 94 could be made of hard rubber or an equivalentsynthetic material.

At one end of the boom 18, there is provided an end clamp and guillotinesection 110. This is made up by means of the flange plate 112 as shownin FIGS. 2 and 3, and a fixed jaw 114 integral with the boom 18. Cuttingknives 116, as shown in FIG. 11, are attached to the edge of the fixedjaw. As can be seen, these cutting jaws are L-shaped and the cuttingedge when they are mounted to the jaws extends parallel to the boom 18.

There is a pivoting jaw 118 mounted on shaft 120 to the boom 18 forcooperable movement with the fixed jaw 114. Cutting knives 116 are alsoprovided about the exposed edge of the pivoting jaw 118. A tensionspring 122 is mounted to the shaft 120 and is effective to keep thepivoting jaw 118 in a closed position, such as shown in FIG. 3.

A bracket 124 extends from the pivoting jaw 118 and pulleys 126 and 128are located on the boom 18 in line with the clamp 124.

At the end face of the flange plate 112, there is mounted a guillotineslide bracket 130 which effectively receives the guillotine blade 132and allows it to move in a vertical plane. A guillotine blade 132includes a shank 134 which extends upwardly from the blade about whichis provided a compression spring 136. A sleeve 138 is mounted over thespring towards the top portion thereof and mounts a pulley 142.

Another pulley 144 is mounted on the boom 18 in line with the pulley142. Finally, there is an anchor bracket mounted on the end flange plate112 in the same plane with the pulleys 144 and 142.

The other clamp section 148 is provided at the other end of the boom 18.This clamp section 148 includes a flange plate 150, and a fixed jaw 152similar to the fixed jaw of the section 110 is integral with the boom 18and a pivoting jaw 154 cooperates with the fixed jaw 152. A bracket 156is mounted to the pivoting jaw 154. The pivoting jaw 154 is journalledonto a shaft 158 mounted to the boom.

Pulleys 160 and 162 are in line with the bracket 156.

Tension spring 164 is mounted onto the shaft 158 and is effective tonormally keep the pivoting jaw 154 in a closed position.

The various pivoting parts of the delimbing apparatus are, in thepresent embodiment, operated by means of cables. It is evident that, forsuch an apparatus which is mounted somewhat universally with respect tothe vehicle on which it is mounted and especially with the boom 18,mounted in the carriage which is pivotally mounted to a turntable, itcould become burdensome to control the clamps 110 and 148 at the ends ofmeans of hydraulic devices in view of the number of hoses and thecontrol of these hoses which would be necessary.

With respect to the delimbing apparatus, there are at least fourseparate cables identified A, B, C and D. Cables A and B control themovement ofthe boom 18. Cable A is attached to flange plate 112 andpasses about the pulley 72 and then up by the guide pulley 76 thanthrough the hollow sleeve 48 to the block and tackle arrangement on theside of the crane section 34. The block and tackle arrangement includesthree pulleys 166, connected to the piston of piston and cylinderarrangement while the cylinder is fixed to the crane section 34. Twopulleys 167 are also fixed to the crane section or the cylinder 170. Thecable A passes over the series of pulleys and is then fixed to the cranesection 38.

Cable B is fixed at one end to the flange plate 150 and passes over thepulley 74 up through the turntable by guide pulley 78 through the hollowsleeve 48 and to the other side of the crane section 38 to a separateblock and tackle arrangement which is similar to that represented by 166and 167. The pulleys in the block and tackle arrangement associated withcable B are identified 168 and 169, on either side of the piston andcylinder arrangement 172.

Cable C is attached at one end to bracket 124, operating the pivotingjaw 1 18 over the pulleys and then passes over the pulleys 126 and 128underneath the pulley 86, shown in FIG. 9, and then over the pulley 81,shown in FIG. 7, down underneath the pulley 90 and on to pass over thepulleys 162 and 160, and the other end on pivoting to the carriage 62.

OPERATION The delimbing carriage can be aligned with any tree merely byoperating the necessary controls relating to the motor 52 so as torotate the turntable 50 relative to the crown gear 44 on the turntablesupport 38. Also, by operating the piston and cylinder arrangements 1110and 102, the boom can be set at any desired angle. It is noted, however,as shown in FIG. 12 that the rotation of the boom is limited to an angleof approximately 1 identified by m. This is in order not to twist thecables A and B which have come up through the sleeve 48.

Now that the structure of the delimbing apparatus has been described,the operation thereof will now be given, always in reference to thecables A, B, C and D, which are shown schematically in FIGS. 2a, 2b and2c.

Referring to FIG. 2a, the boom is made to slide through the carriage 62by means of the cables A and B. When it is required to close the boom,that is, to bring the guillotine clamp section 110 adjacent the carriage62, the piston arrangement 171) is actuated to extend, thereby pushingout the block and tackle pulley 66 and shortening the cable A. Thisshortening of the cable A will, of course, pull in the boom, since cableA is attached to the flange plate 112. In the meantime, cable B is beingextended by the fact that the boom is extending on the opposite side ofthe carriage 62. This will effectively close the piston and cylinderarrangement 172, since the block and tackle pulleys 166 and 169 will beforced closer together by means of the extending of cable B. If it isrequired during operation to open the boom, that is, to extend the clampand guillotine section 110 outwardly, then the opposite operation isdone.

The pivoting clamp jaws 118 and 154 are operated by means of the cableC. It is evident that the pivoting clamp jaws 118 and 154 will bemaintained in a closed position on a tree or otherwise by means of thetension springs 122 and 164. Ifit is required to release the tree, thenthe piston and cylinder arrangement 80 is retracted so as to pull on thecable C, thereby opening the pivoting clamp jaws 118 and 154simultaneously.

Finally, cable D is pulled by raising the pulley 83 by means of pistonand cylinder arrangement 82, thereby shortening the effective length ofthe cable D, which presses the pulley 142 and shank 13 1 downwardly,thereby causing the guillotine blade 132 to move downwardly across theopening formed by the jaws.

In the field, the crane is operated to maneuver the delimbing apparatusover the length of a fallen tree and with the pivoting grapple jaw 60 inan open position, as well as pivoting jaws 118 and 154. Of course, thegrapple jaw 61) can be open and closed by means of piston and cylinderarrangements 68 and 70. The boom 16 would be in a closed position asdescribed above, and, of course, the guillotine blade 132 would beretracted.

The crane would then be operated to lower the delimbing apparatus on thetree at a point where the cylinder arrangement 172 so as to move theboom 18 towards an open position. Once the boom has extended to an openposition, assuming the tree is of such length that the portion beyondthe clamp section is not commercial, the cable I) would then be pulledas described above so as to lower the guillotine blade and cut off theend of the tree.

While this operation is going on, the crane would be operated in such away as to load the tree onto a proper forwarding equipment.

An embodiment of a suitable forwarding equipment would be in the form ofa trailer.

An embodiment of a suitable buncher arrangement is shown in FIGS. 13through 15, in which there is a pair of pivoting arms 36 and 32 pivotedto a cantilever frame 132 and actuated by means of piston and cylinderarrangements 1% and166 respectively. The cantilever frame is mounted ona turntable arrangement which can be of conventional construction and ispreferably in a position in a plane longitudinally of the vehicle whenit is being loaded and, of course, it would be transversal of the axisof the vehicle when the vehicle is forwarding.

Finally, there is a cable E which has one end attached to each upper endof the pivoting arms 36 and 32 and which extends to form a loop andwhich crosses at the frame and which loops around two spaced-apartpulleys 196 and 198 mounted to a piston and cylinder arrangement 1941which is itself fixed to the frame. When the arms 31) and 32 are open toreceive logs, the cable E is preferably slack and, therefore, the pistonand cylinder arrangement 194i is retracted. However, when a plurality oftrees has been received and it is required to secure the logs ordebranched trees which are aligned between the arms, the arms 30 and 32are closed and the piston and cylinder arrangement 194 is actuated sothat it extends and tightens the cable E about the logs which are beingbunched between the arms 30 and 32.

As can be seen from the above description, the woodharvesting operationcan be greatly reduced in that the trees which have been severed and arealigned in the field can be picked up by the grapple jaws 64 and 66 andwhile the crane 26 is operated to load at least the trunk end of thetree onto the buncher represented by the arms 30 and 32 which are in anopen position, the tree is being debranched by means of the debranchingclamp 111) and 148. Once enough trees have been loaded onto the buncher,the buncher is closed and the vehicle can advance either to another areawhere there are trees or to a road-side loading station, or the like.

I claim:

1. A delimbing apparatus including a vehicle, a crane mounted on thevehicle, means at the free end of the crane for gripping a felled tree,said means being adapted for movement relative to the crane, said meansincluding a carriage, a boom slidably mounted through the carriageparallel to a tree so gripped, delimbing means mounted to the boomadapted to engage the tree while it is engaged by said tree-grippingmeans, and means for slidably moving said boom and delimbing meanslongitudinally of said tree, while said tree is 7 being gripped by saidgripping means, whereby the branches are severed from the tree.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the carriage is adapted tomove at least two planes normal to each other relative to the crane.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 whereby the delimbing meansinclude clamping devices at each end of the boom and each clampingdevice has a fixed jaw and a pivoting jaw, with debranching knivesmounted to the inner edges of the jaws.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 whereby the pivoting jaws arenormally held in a closed position against the fixed jaws by means oftension springs mounted on the boom and cable means are provided foropening the pivoting jaws against the action of the springs.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said cable extends alongthe boom and passes over or under a pair of opposed pulleys up over athird pulley which is movable to and from the pairs of opposed pulleysfor efiectively shortening the cable so as to open the pulleys.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein there is a guillotineknife provided at the end of the boom and a cable anchored to one end ofthe boom passes over the spring-operated knife below a guide pulley andover a second pulley adapted for movement to and from the guide pulleyto effectively shorten the length of the cable so as to actuate themovement of the guillotine knife.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the boom is movable in thecarriage by means of cables passing through the carriage towards aposition on the crane, whereby the cables are alternately lengthened andshortened by means of reverse block and tackle means operated byhydraulic motors.

1. A delimbing apparatus including a vehicle, a crane mounted on thevehicle, means at the free end of the crane for gripping a felled tree,said means being adapted for movement relative to the crane, said meansincluding a carriage, a boom slidably mounted through the carriageparallel to a tree so gripped, delimbing means mounted to the boomadapted to engage the tree while it is engaged by said tree-grippingmeans, and means for slidably moving said boom and delimbing meanslongitudinally of said tree, while said tree is being gripped by saidgripping means, whereby the branches are severed from the tree.
 2. Anapparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the carriage is adapted to moveat least two planes normal to each other relative to the crane.
 3. Anapparatus as defined in claim 1 whereby the delimbing means includeclamping devices at each end of the boom and each clamping device has afixed jaw and a pivoting jaw, with debranching knives mounted to theinner edges of the jaws.
 4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherebythe pivoting jaws are normally held in a closed position against thefixed jaws by means of tension springs mounted on the boom and cablemeans are provided for opening the pivoting jaws against the action ofthe springs.
 5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said cableextends along the boom and passes over or under a pair of opposedpulleys up over a third pulley which is movable to and from the pairs ofopposed pulleys for effectively shortening the cable so as to open thepulleys.
 6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein there is aguillotine knife provided at the end of the boom and a cable anchored toone end of the boom passes over the spring-operated knife below a guidepulley and over a second pulley adapted for movement to and from theguide pulley to effectively shorten the length of the cable so as toactuate the movement of the guillotine knife.
 7. An apparatus as definedin claim 1 wherein the boom is movable in the carriage by means ofcables passing through the carriage towards a position on the crane,whereby the cables are alternately lengthened and shortened by means ofreverse block and tackle means operated by hydraulic motors.